F29D: Nothing But Hope: Dream Away
by animegingysnap
Summary: What happens when Abby, Eric, Melissa and Jackson leave the coast and head West? Will emotions run wild? There's still some tension between Jackson and Melissa. What will become of them? JacksonxMelissa. R&R. Hope you all like! A sequel or remake soon!
1. The Beginning

Hello: First off, I'd just like to remind you all that I do not own any of the characters, or anything for that matter, related to this main story. I've only created a story dealing with the end of the 2nd season, like many others here. Thanks and don't forget R&R.

* * *

**F29D: Nothing but Hope**

**The Beginning**

'It has been one whole day since we've left camp. We have enough water to go around, and we know where to find food, but still I can't help but feel that we are forgetting something important…'

"Jackson! Stop daydreaming, let's move it!" Jackson was snapped out of thought by the annoying bossy Abby. He only wanted to help her out back at camp, but she didn't want any of it. Jackson adjusted his backpack and looked at Abby with that serious face of his and she glared back a, "don't mess with me" look.

Jackson and Melissa had decided to join Abby and Eric on the adventure to the West Side of the Island. It has grown a little awkward between the two of them due to the whole fiasco at camp with Jackson flirting with Taylor when he had already said that relationships weren't meant for the island. Jackson didn't know where he stood with the two girls. He only just got to know them, and he didn't know which one, or even if both, he liked more than a friend. He knew he'd have to make up his mind on where he stood sooner or later.

Night was beginning to fall onto the four courageous, or stupid, search party members. There was no sign of the other two kids or the captain who had been separated from Abby during the huge storm in the first 10 days on the island. The crew decided to unpack their stuff and set up a temporary camp for the night.

"What if… what if they're-" Eric began to say looking up at the stars in the clear night sky, but he was cut off by the tempered Abby within a second.

"Don't think like that! What's wrong with you?! They're okay… they're just farther off… They made it to the shore on the other side I bet, yeah, that's it! We start searching west again tomorrow!" Abby stated, or more ordered, and then fell asleep before anyone knew it. Eric looked at Abby with shock, or better like it terror, then a solemn face crept upon him and he continued to gaze at the stars above.

Melissa stared at the new Abby, still upset with the changes she gained from the treacherous jungle, she then looked away and readied herself for bed. Melissa didn't know what she was doing here with these three. She wanted to come alone to make sure everyone was safe, but the tension in the air was killing her.

"Good night, Eric…" and that was all Mel said before she dosed off. Jackson was left there sitting with his arms crossed over his knee caps. Eric looked back and forth between the two of them with that smile of his and gave a laugh, but with one glare from Jackson, Eric shut up and turned over on his side to sleep. There Jackson was, still pondering everything that had just happened between the past few days and now.

'What am I going to do?' and with that Jackson turned over to face no one but the darkness of the jungle. Sleep was all he wanted, but the confusion kept him awake more than half the night. His gray eyes looked extremely sad looking into empty space, a glaze passed over them and he was asleep before he knew it.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story and liked it! I really appreciate it and yes, I will post more ASAP! Ha ha.**


	2. And So It Begins

**Here you all go, ha ha. I know it's not much, but hey, I'm working on it. PSSA's and other tests have my mind in a bundle, but I love to type and write, so that's no excuse. R&R please. Much love and thanks again!  
**

* * *

**F29D: Nothing but Hope**

**Dream Away**

**And So It Begins**

Morning sunlight crept upon the four teens as they slept. Eric was the first to wake up; he whined that the sunlight was too bright and turned away from it in hope to dose off once again. Abby slowly rose. She yawned and stretched, then began to pack her things up. Jackson woke up from a rattling of Abby's pack's contents. He rolled his eyes and let his head fall onto the soft hoodie he had rolled up into a ball as a substitute for a pillow.

"Come on you guys. We have to keep moving," Abby said in a polite way looking at Eric who was trying to sleep. When he least expected it, she threw a rock at his butt and he yelped rubbing the tender part of his arse.

"What was THAT for!?" Eric whined then stared at Abby. She stared back and Eric got up immediately and started packing.

"I'm going to that stream over there to clean up, then we're setting out again," Abby said collecting a shirt of hers she wanted to wash in the water, then she spotted Mel still sleeping and rolled her eyes, looking at Jackson she said, "Get her up will you?"

Jackson looked at her shocked and pointed at himself stupidly (morning + Jackson, don't mix). "Yes, you! Idiot," and with that Abby left.

Jackson sighed because he had just realized how stupid he looked, and had gotten up and went over to Mel. "…Mel… hey, come on. Dictator Abby is calling everyone for line-up," Jackson said jokingly.

"That's not funny," Mel replied with a yawn. She turned away from him and sat up. After stretching and rubbing her eyes she stood up and began to get her things packed up. Jackson decided to help her, but she grabbed her shirts before he could and looked up at him, "I can handle this myself… no offense but you need to get your stuff together or Dictator Abby will throw a rock at your head."

Jackson looked up to see Mel smiling and she winked at him. He laughed and went back over to his corner and began to gather his materials up.

Eric had all of his things neatly packed and ready to be approved by Abby when she returned.

"Dude, you need to relax, she won't kill you…" Jackson said, this made Eric feel better and then Jackson knelt next to him and whispered, "She'll kill you when she realizes she doesn't need you in the jungle." Jackson patted scared Eric's back and laughed.

"Ha ha, very funny. You're all full of laughs aren't you," Eric laughed nervously and then noticed Abby coming back and stiffened up.

"Is everyone ready?" she asked, everyone nodded and gave a lazy, 'yes'. "Good, we've got a long day ahead of us. With that sun, it's going to be hot out there, so where a hat of some kind or something…"

Again, the group began to hike up beautiful but dangerous land. Water fell gentle over picture-perfect falls and beautiful exotic birds flew overhead. It would have all been perfect except for the fact that it was extremely hot compared to any of the past days on the island and the four teens needed to pass every 10 minutes or so to catch their breath.

Abby was beginning to get a little light-headed and so the group decided to stop until the temperature cooled down a bit. Eric was fanning Abby and making sure that she was getting enough water. Melissa watched over Abby and Eric while Jackson looked out further ahead on a tall tree branch.

It seemed that the trees ahead seemed to stretch on forever and all hope was lost on ever reaching the West Coast.

"So? How does it look?" Jackson looked down to see Mel covering her eyes from the sun while looking up at him.

"I don't like the look of it. These trees go on forever it seems. I can't see any coasts. How's it look down there?" Jackson said jokingly.

"Pretty good... " Mel said and laughed, this took Jackson by surprise and he nearly fell off the branch he was balancing on. "Are you okay!?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just didn't expect you to take that seriously," Jackson laughed while looking for placement for his feet as he climbed down.

"So it wasn't a serious question... ?" Mel asked as Jackson jumped the last branch to land on the earth infront of Mel.

"No," he stated out of breath.

"Oh, too bad, because that was a serious answer," Mel said smiling and walked her way back to Abby and Eric leaving Jackson there confused. Jackson smiled and jogged to catch up to Mel.

"So, umm... are we... okay? I mean back at camp-" Jackson began.

"Yeah, I understand now, you like Taylor..." Mel said slowly.

"No, Mel, you don't understand, I-"

"I do understand Jackson, we're just friends. I'm sorry, I just really liked you... I suppose. It's okay though. We can be friends. I don't mind." Mel mumbled while kicking the ground and avoiding eye contact.

"Mel... I just... I told you that I like you, and I do, just we can't on this island. Everyone is looking to everyone else for support and a shoulder to cry on. Taylor and I are... well..." Jackson was beginning to confuse himself again. He started to mumble and then laughing out of confusion. Mel looked at him with a confused looked and then looked behind him with wide eyes.

"It's just... I mean..." Jackson mumbled and pondered.

"Don't move." Mel said sternly.

"What? What are you-" Jackson said as he looked at Mel and then started to turn around. Mel grabbed his hand with one of hers and his hip to stop him from turning with her other. He looked back at her and she looked scared. Jackson wanted to look behind him so badly but then again he was afraid of what would be there. He moved his head just ever so slightly when-

"AH!"

"JACKSON!" Mel screamed. Jackson had fallen to the ground. He had felt a sharp pain in the side of his neck and fallen immediately from it. He held his neck and then looked at his hand to see two speckles of blood on his palm from the spot of pain. Jackson then looked up from where he lay on the ground to see a snake wrapped around a tree, it was quickly retreating away from it's victim.

"What was that? Ah..." Jackson started to black out.

"Hold on Jackson! Come on! Don't give in." He heard Mel say, then all went black.

* * *

**Ha ha, so how's it going? R&R please. Thanks and I'll post more soon, I promise! Don't you just love Jackson. What will happen next... ? Hmmmm...**  



	3. Is There Anybody Out There?

**Here it goes again! Ha ha, I really appreciate of you peoples out there who read and like this story blush. That's really awesome of you guys and so I'll keep it coming. Ha ha. **

* * *

**  
F29D: Nothing but Hope**

**Dream Away**

**Is There Anybody Out There?**

"... stupid..." that was what Jackson first heard as he came out of it, "I told you not to move, what do you think I meant?"

"... uh..." Jackson opened his eyes to see Melissa leaning over him. She looked more mad than worried, like a mother who told you not to go playing in the rain or you'd catch a cold. As soon as she saw him open his eyes she smiled as if she were never mad at all. Mel grabbed a cloth and wet it down with water from her water bottle. She carefully dabbed his forehead to clean away sweat and then dabbed his neck. He flinched for a second and then closed his eyes and thought about what had just happened.

"How long have I been out?" he asked while rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"You've been out for only a few hours..." Mel said while wetting the cloth down again, "... and believe me, I think that Dictator Abby is starting to get back to her old self. She was freaking out when she saw me carrying you, arm over shoulder, back here. I think she's starting to trust again."

Jackson thought to himself of how it must have looked to see himself being carried over to where Eric and Abby had been. He must have looked so weak and helpless... well... he was. Jackson noticed that he was looking weak right now just lying there with Mel tending him. He quickly sat up and was about to stand when he became extremely light-headed.

"Calm down and lay back down! You were bitten by a Brown Tree Snake. It's okay though, we looked into it. They're venomous, but not deadly. It's odd though, their nocturnal snakes, you must have woken him up when you were in that tree. You'll be okay though, just a little tired and you should rest for the rest of the evening." Mel stood up and grabbed Jackson's sleeping bag. She had spread it out and then helped Jackson walk, or more like stumble, over and into it. After Jackson was covered and given something to drink, he dosed off. He looked so peaceful lying there.

Eric came around the trees behind Melissa, he had been filling water bottles with Abby, and asked, "So, is he okay? Did he wake up?" Eric had noticed that Jackson had moved from the previous spot.

"He'll be fine. He's just tired." Mel took one of the water bottles that Eric had went to fill and took a drink while watching Jackson. Abby came around the trees and saw Jackson had moved and was about to ask when Eric answered, "He's fine. He just needs some sleep to recover." Abby nodded and walked over to Jackson's back pack. She pulled out his hoodie.

"Here," Abby said while handing the hoodie over to Melissa,"He needs to change his clothes, it's filthy and he has blood from the bite on his shirt."

Melissa looked at Jackson's yellow shirt to see that there was a good amount of blood on his collar and running down to above his chest. Melissa then looked back and forth between the two: Jackson and the hoodie. "Why do you want me to dress him?"

"You are his girlfriend aren't you? And I'm not asking you to change his pants or anything." Abby said throwing the clothes at Melissa after she gave a blank stare. Melissa was able to stutter only a few works when Abby had left to go to search for more food with Eric.

'Okay, it's nothing big, just helping a friend out. He's hurt.' Mel kept telling herself as she looked at Jackson. She then crawled closer to him and sat him up against her knee so as he wouldn't fall over. He was out like a light. Melissa carefully pulled Jackson's shirt up over his head and threw it next to him back pack. As she was rolling the hoodie up to get over his head, he moved. Melissa squealed and accidentally stood up and sent Jackson falling to the ground.

"Oh no!" Mel picked Jackson up again and placed him against her leg so that he wouldn't fall again, then she noticed that his forehead had a large cut on it from a branch on the ground. The cut was starting to bleed. Mel began to panic. She wet another cloth down and pressed it lightly against his forehead and he woke up.

"... what's going on... where's my shirt? Ouch..." he said touching his head.

"I'm sorry, I needed to change your shirt because it was bloodied up a bit and I was changing it when you moved and I freaked out a bit and might have dropped you, accidentally of course, and you cut your forehead off that branch there. I'm sorry." Mel said as fast as she possibly could leaving Jackson with a wide-eyed look of confusion.

"... okay..." was all that he could say as he took the cloth from Mel and pressed it against his head. "This is just too much for me in one day, what is it? Friday the 13th or something?" he asked laughing. Mel managed to smile but she felt awful, even if it wasn't something life threatening.

Jackson was starting to put on his hoodie when he bumped the fabric onto his neck and flinched. Mel helped him get it around his neck without hitting the tender part of his neck again. "Thanks," Jackson said with a smile, "seriously. Thanks."

Melissa smiled and helped Jackson back into his sleeping bag once again. As Mel tucked the corner on the opposite side of Jackson from her, in he took her shoulder and pulled her close. Both their lips touched and slowly Jackson opened Mel's lips with his tongue. There they were kissing when who other than, Eric would come through the woods.

Eric stood there for a few seconds and was about to say something smart ass like, when he realized that he should just walk away. He was slowly backing up when Abby came around the corner, not looking, and bumped into him. "Watch were you're going Eric!"

Melissa jumped up and Jackson jerked his head to the side to see Eric staring at them and Abby being totally oblivious.

'Eric!' Mel and Jackson both shouted in their heads. Both were blushing and trying to avoid eye contact with the other two. Mel managed to catch eye contact with Jackson for a second and smiling nervously, then darted her eyes to the fire only a few feet away. She stood up and went over to put more wood underneath. Abby walked over to Jackson and gave him some bananas and half a coconut with coconut milk inside.

"Thanks Abby," Jackson said as he took a sip or two of the milk and then placed the shell beside him. He was peeling the banana when Eric walked by and gave him a thumbs up and a curled lip. Jackson rolled his eyes and turned away.

Abby began to notice that something was up when both Jackson and Melissa were avoiding her. Abby walked over to Eric and asked, "Hey, do you know what's going on with those two? They're acting really weird. Did they say anything to you?"

Eric began to choke on the tropical fruit he was eating but managed to say, "They didn't... cough say anything to me! Honest! cough"

Abby gave him a look of confusing and walked away to the fire where Mel was. She knelt next to her, and Mel straightened up. "So... what's going on?"

"What? Nothing, nothing's going on. Why do you think something's going on?" Mel stuttered while catching a glimpse of Jackson sleeping again.

"Well, it's just that when I came back here from gathering fruit you and Jackson have been a little... I dunno... different in some way," Abby said looking at Mel through the corner of her eye. Mel put some more wood into the fire and said nothing. Abby sighed, "Listen. I know that I've been acting like a bitch lately and all, and... well... I apologize. I'm sorry, okay? It's just, I want to get home so badly."

"So do we. Do you think we want to stay here forever? We're trying our best to meet your expectations and get to the West Coast as soon as possible, but it is difficult with someone breathing down your neck all the time... " Mel said and then noticed what she said, "I'm sorry, that was rude."

"No, it wasn't. You're right, I have been ordering you guys around a bit haven't eye. Watching your every more, that's freaky, ha ha." Abby laughed and then gave Mel a hug. Mel didn't know what to think for a minute and then hugged her back. The two laughed and then went to set up for the night.

As they unrolled their sleeping bags, something moved in a bush near by. Abby froze. Mel laughed and said, "Okay, very funny Eric."

Eric came around the other side and said, "What?" Abby and Mel looked at each other and then the bush. It moved again. Jackson was awake now and staring at the bush as well. He had gotten up and was backing away very slowly.

"What is that?" Jackson said backing up a bit more as the rustling became louder and more constant. The bush was moving as though it was being attached by something and then something crawled out. The figure was completely covered in mud and was coming at them fast. The four screamed in fright as the thing came closer. It grabbed Abby's hand and pulled a bit. Abby screamed and Eric grabbed a tree branch and swung it at the thing.

Then the thing spoke, "Stop!" The four castaways froze and stared at the thing before them as it moved it's arm like things and managed to wipe away some mud from it's head. The thing was Ian! It was one of the three who were separated from Abby during the storm. A moment or two passed before Abby moved slowly toward Ian and stood infront of him. She then smiled and laughed as she threw her arms around the muddy Ian. The other three looked at each other in amazement and walked over to Ian. Abby was crying because of how happy she was to find one of the others.

"What happened? How did you guys get separated from me? Where were you? Why are you all muddy? Where are the other two?" Abby and Eric and Melissa were asked as many questions as the could when they heard, "QUIET!!!"

There Jackson stood, "Okay, I know we're all excited to find one others, it's nice to see you again dude, but come on. Give the guy some air to breath." Eric jumped back about two feet and crossed his arms, he had noticed that he was just hugging a dude and was a little freaked out now. Melissa grabbed a water bottle for Ian, and Abby helped him sit down.

Ian was clearing the mud from his eyes and then took a gulp of water. He then said, "Thanks, but we have to get moving."

Ian stood up and began to stumble in his place. Abby ran over to catch him before he fell. Ian wasn't okay, something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked.

Ian's eyes watered a bit and he said, "Jory and the Captain are in trouble."

* * *

**Woo! My hand hurts, ha ha. What is Ian talking about? What's wrong with Jory, what happened to the captain? Wait and see! Coming soon, promise.**  



	4. Is There A Doctor On The Island?

**Alright, here we go. I hope this makes you all happy out there, and more to come still. Ha ha. **

* * *

**F29D: Nothing but Hope**

**Dream Away**

**Is There A Doctor On The Island?**

'Ian, who would have thought we'd find him, let alone anyone out here...' Jackson thought about this as the new member of the group was cleaning up at the stream. Ian had been crawling through the jungle, trying to find someone to help Jory and the Captain. Ian had told the group just last night, upon arrival, that the other two were really sick. He didn't know what to do, and so out of panic he ran into the heart of the island in search of any sign of help. Of course there would be no one out there, luckily though the four castaways had stayed there at that spot for another night because of Jackson's snake bite. Jackson was beginning to doubt anyone being alive, of the other three, but here, here there was hope. So far they are all alive, but what if they don't make it to Jory and the Captain in time...

"Jackson... are you ready?" Melissa's soft voice snapped Jackson out of his thoughts. He stared at her blankly for a second, shook his head, then stood up and said, "Yeah, I'm ready. How's Ian?"

Melissa straightened her back pack's strap while saying, "Fine, he's all cleaned up."

Then Jackson put a hand on Mel's shoulder and leaned in closer to her. He was leading towards her lips, when he quickly moved over to just her cheek. Mel thought something was wrong and looked up to Jackson's eyes. His eyes were focused on something behind Mel and he had that look. Mel turned around to see Abby standing only a few feet away. She had that, 'I knew it' look on her face as if she'd just won the battle. Mel smiled nervously and then looked to the ground at her feet.

"Let's move it people, we've got to start heading out... " Abby said in a less ordering tone and then turned away with a smile on her face.

Jackson's hand was still on Mel's shoulder until she coughed lightly to snap him out of his stare at Abby. "Oh... yeah... well, better get going then, right?" Jackson started to follow Abby leaving Mel there to think.

'What is going on?' Mel thought, 'Does Jackson like me now? Has he made up his mind?' Mel was so confused but she couldn't be right now, she needed to focus on moving out to find Jory and the captain. She needed to make sure they were okay. She needed to be a leader, not a follower.

Abby, Eric, Jackson, Ian, and Melissa began their journey to find the other two early in the morning. Mosquitoes were swarming around the group as the made their way through a swampy area on the island. Eric would once in awhile yawn from not getting enough sleep last night from talking about Ian non-stop, even when no one was listening. Abby discovered the bright idea to snap a tree branch in his face every now and then to wake him up. After a few minutes, the only sound heard was Ian giving a simple and short direction, "This way..." "Left here..." "To your right... " "Ahead a little further..."

Everyone seemed to be exhausted around midday and so Jackson finally spoke up, "Okay... okay... I think we should all... just take a break... get something to drink... regain our strength, then keep going... agreed... ?"

Ian nodded his head silently, obviously still upset that he had left Jory and the captain behind without so much as a 'good-bye'. He slumped onto a small rock on the hill they were walking back and hung his head over his knees. Abby dropped her back pack and grabbed two water bottles from it, she handed one to Ian and sat next to him as they both drank. Eric fell to the ground and dug in his pack for his water bottle. He chugged half of it and then began to settle down for a quick nap. Melissa saw a small stream over what seemed like a small hill and decided to go wash up and refill any water bottles that were empty. Jackson decided to wash up after Mel and sat himself down against a tree and leaned back to rest.

Mel made her way down the larger than expected hill, and a lot steeper. She tripped at the very bottom, but didn't fall. When she reached the stream she noticed something in the water. She couldn't see it clearly through the ripples of the current and so she had to squint her eyes and try to stop the current with her hands. When she noticed what it was she screamed a high and girlish scream.

Up on top of the hill, Jackson was resting when he heard the scream. He knew it was Mel the second he heard it. Immediately he jumped up from the spot near the tree and began to run toward the top of the what looked small, hill. When he hit the steep part of the hill he began tripping and sliding down the hill every which way. Eric began to run down the hill and ended up rolling the rest of the way. Ian and Abby were the only ones to take their time down the hill and not be harmed in any way.

When Jackson reached the bottom of the hill, he say a teary eyed frightened look Mel. He ran to her and knelt beside her, "What's wrong Mel, why did you scream?!" Mel pointed toward the stream with a trembling hand and Jackson rose from beside Mel and looked into the stream. He looked in and saw something in the water, though he couldn't see it clearly. He was about to look at it more closely when a stronger current came out of no where and lifted whatever was there and rose it to the surface for a brief second. It was... a skull. A human skull. And not just a skull but it still had a few vertebra and skin and what not attached.

Jackson immediately had the feeling as though he were going to throw up when he heard Eric, Ian and Abby gagging. He turned around and walked over to Melissa. He knelt down and leveled his head with hers. She was still crying and he didn't blame her. It was a terrible sight, and everyone there had the same thought, 'What if it was one of the others'.

Melissa was trembling like crazy and couldn't stand, so Jackson did the only think he could think of. He shifted himself into a position aside of Mel and lifted her up bridal style. Mel sobbed into Jackson's hoodie as he climbed the hill with her. Eric stared blankly at the spot of the stream where the skull had appeared, turned pale and then upchucked whatever he had just recently eaten into a bush nearby. Ian was as white as a ghost and was the first to leave the scene, even before Jackson had picked Melissa up. Abby waited for Eric and then they both headed up the hill.

Melissa was still clinging to Jackson even when they had reached the top of the hill. When she realized where she was and what Jackson had done, she wiped her eyes and found her way off of Jackson and onto the cold earth. She sat near her bag and sobbed quietly into her hands. Jackson decided to sit next to her to comfort her, but then decided not to, not until he said what he wanted to say.

When everyone was up the hill and in the same area Jackson said, "I know you all don't want to bring it up or anything, but we were all thinking the same thing there weren't we? What if that was one of the others? But you know what, I'm also thinking, what if that's someone we don't know... what if there are other people her, and by the looks of that... skull... they were just here, and there may be more of them... just wanted to bring that out to the clear..."

Jackson then clapped his hands, as if to signal he was finished, and sat next to Mel.

"... what if... what if... that was..." Mel stammered between tears.

"Come on... don't think like that... " Jackson said, then he placed his hand under her chin and rose her face up. With his big, yet gentle hands he wiped away her tears and she smiled. Then she nussled into his chest. She wanted to forget what she had seen.

* * *

**Wow, that was sad, more to come people! More to come.**  



	5. Trust Me

**Okay, here it goes, here it goes people. Thank you for all of the emails and what not. You've all been extremely sweet and kind about this story. I really appreciate all the feedback and yes, I'll try to get some of your ideas into the story, some I was going to use already, and others fit in just perfectly. You can really think up some good stuff and just right. Thanks and thanks again!**

* * *

**F29D: Nothing but Hope**

**Dream Away**

**Trust Me...**

'... I can't get it out of my head... it was so awful... what if it was one of the others... ' Melissa couldn't get these thoughts out of her head. What she had seen yesterday at the stream was still clear in her mind. 'What about those guys? Poor Ian... he must think... No! I've got to think positive... but how do you think something like that is positive... oi...'

Melissa was still a little freaked out by the scene, but then again, who wasn't!? They had all just seen a dead corpse floating in the water... no it wasn't even a dead corpse, it was the head of someone... it had been decapitated from its body... you couldn't even tell if it were man or woman... only that it must have been older than a child by the size of the skull.

Everyone was silent while hiking to find Jory and the Captain. Ian was leading the way, then Abby, third was Jackson, forth was Melissa and lastly Eric. They were at the heart of the island it seemed. It was swampy and there was a rotten odor in the air. There were no birds... only bugs. It was swampy alright, the muddy waters came up to their ankles and then rose to their kneecaps. The group had to be careful not to fall completely in as Ian had done while looking for help. Ian had been lucky, he hadn't drown, he'd just gone under for a few seconds and was fine after that.

The group tried to stay only knees deep, but every once and awhile someone would sink to their chest and the group would gasp. Jackson was the first to fall down a feet or two to where the swampy water was to his chest. Melissa was right behind him and screamed out of shock. Jackson quickly made it out of the deep area and guided both Melissa and Eric around the spot he had sunk into. Now Jackson was last in line. Then Abby tripped and fell to her knees in the swamp bringing the water to her chin, but she quickly stood up and tried to clear herself of mud.

Ian decided that it was getting dangerous and that the group should all hold onto a vine so that they could tell when one was falling down or going under and attempt to bring them back up. Ian was glad he had thought of this because just after ripping the vine down and everyone holding on and moving only a few feet further, he had fallen into a deep section and would have went completely under if it hadn't had been for the others pulling him back. Ian had landed on his back side and was muddied all down his back and partial of his front. Abby laughed a friendly laugh and helped him back up.

"Lucky you," she said and Ian blushed then smiled.

"I don't mean to be complaining or anything, but this is seriously the most dangerous thing we've done so far... maybe we should go back..." Eric started to say. Melissa could tell that he was scared and so she walked back to him and said, "Come on, we're almost across. You'll be okay, trust me." Eric didn't look assured at first and then cracked an honest smile and said, "Thanks."

Jackson was still in the rear and smiled when he saw Melissa reassure Eric. Jackson had been thinking a lot about Melissa. She was one of the most honest and kind people he had ever really known. Was she just a friend or more to him? 'I kissed her... I kissed her and I meant it... I guess my feelings for her are more obvious than I thought... then why can't I just say it... maybe...' Jackson had been thinking to himself and not watching where he was going.

All of the sudden Eric felt a great pull on the vine behind him and so did the others. Eric pulled forward and had actually fallen down from the shock and force. When the group looked behind Eric they saw the vine going under the water and a small amount of bubbles coming upward. Jackson had fallen in!

Abby was the first to react by running over and lifting Eric out of the water, then she yelled to the others, "Pull the vine! NOW!" Everyone pulled as hard as they could and realized after a few seconds that the vine must be caught on one of the tree roots under the water, Jackson must be stuck!

Melissa did the first thing that she could think of and ran over and dived into the water where Jackson had just been. She heard just before she hit the water, "Melissa! Do-".

Melissa could only see a few inches infront of her face. Everything was clouded and the muddy water hurt her eyes. She followed the vine and it went a lot farther down then she thought, not the depth of a school swimming pool, but deep. Her ears even popped at one point, but she was okay.

Soon she saw an outline of something infront of her and when she had gotten closer she saw that it was Jackson. He still had some air in his lungs but not for long. He was struggling to free himself. He had been trying to free himself of the vine wrapped around his foot and the root around his leg. He must have fallen in and landed behind the root and when Eric had fallen the vine had wrapped around his foot on the opposite side of the root trapping him. Melissa tried to signal him, 'One minute,' but Jackson was losing oxygen and starting to dose out of it. Melissa worked the vine off of his foot and was starting to bring him upward when he let go of his last bit of air. He couldn't help it, he was under the water too long.

Melissa had to act fast, so she did all that she could think of right then and there. She put her lips against Jackson and pushed whatever air she had left in her lungs into him and then breathed it back in and out and in and out until Jackson started to breath in and out of Mel himself and they both shared the last bit of oxygen and swam up to the surface. When they broke the surface, and were gasping for air. Abby ran over to Melissa and pulled her onto higher land. Ian and Eric aided Jackson in climbing out of the deep area of the swamp. Melissa only took a few minutes to catch her breath and then followed by Abby went to Jackson. Ian and Eric were yelling at him, "Wake up! Come on! Breath! Why isn't he breathing? Holy shit!"

Melissa moved past Eric and placed her head on Jackson's chest. A heart beat. He was still alive. Melissa began to perform CPR. She seemed to be the only one who knew how in the group and so it was a lucky thing that she was there. She breathed five times, but he still wasn't breathing on his own.

Eric then came up close to Jackson and started to pound his chest in beat. While Eric kept the tempo up Mel concentrated on the breathing. And within a few seconds Jackson was spitting out water from his deadly fall. He coughed up a good amount and then rolled over onto his stomach. He was wheezing and his eyes fluttered. 'He must be in shock' everyone thought. A minute passed and Jackson was okay. He didn't say anything except, "...fine... I'm fine...".

Melissa was shaking her head back and forth and hung her head low. Jackson saw this and ask, "What's wrong... Mel?" Melissa looked up with watery eyes and said, "I thought you were... I shouldn't have, but... it was so scary..." Melissa sobbed and Eric was holding Abby who started to cry into his shoulder. Eric looked watery-eyed but just nodded at Jackson and shared a fake smile. Ian was sitting next to Abby and Eric, and had his head hung in his arms over his knees.

After a good solid silence a small weary, nervous voice came from Ian, "...how much will we have to go through... I just want to go home... that's all anyone wants... what did we do to deserve all this..."

_...silence fell upon the group...  
_

* * *

**So... ? How was that? Dramatic in a good way, just how I like 'em. Ha ha. Emails and Reviews are very much appreciated, that's what keeps me writing! Love you all!**


	6. It's Getting Hotter

**Hey! Here's another for all those fans. The emails just keep coming, I really appreciate it and of course I will keep going on because of those emails, ha ha. You're all wonderful. Couldn't have asked for a better audience of readers. Remember, reviews and comments keep this story coming.  
**

* * *

**F29D: Nothing but Hope**

**Dream Away**

**It's Getting Hotter  
**

Ian was right, not one of these teens had done anything so bad that they deserved this kind of punishment. The pain they went through was ten times worse than anyone could imagine. Any one of them was at risk of dying out here in this jungle.

Jackson was lying on his side, his head just above the shallow water resting on Mel's lap. Jackson was resting for a minute or two until his breathing was normal and he was out of shock from his near death experience. Jackson's hair was soaked and tangled every which way and his clothes were so damp that they pressed against his skin and you could make out his outline with ease. His chest moved up and down at as a steady beat.

Melissa was brushing his hair back with her fingers and watching him worriedly. She didn't know how much more he could take. He had just nearly drowned and could've died from a snake bite not that long ago. Melissa, thinking of the snake bite, cleared some mud from Jackson's neck to look at where he had been bitten. When she saw it, it was red and purple around the bite marks. The light venom was still in his system making him weak. 'It won't kill him, it will just wear him out more easily...' Mel thought to herself. She still felt guilty about the snake bite. If she would have done something then he wouldn't have been bitten.

Eric was sitting on a low tree branch over the swampy area. The water had reached up to his thighs as he leaned against the tree branch. His eyes stared steadily ahead, as if he were focusing really hard on something. He hadn't spoke since Jackson had been pulled out and was presumed to be dead. 'His eyes were closed and he felt colder than the water... I thought for sure...' Eric couldn't get the thought out of his head. It was haunting him. It was like a dark cloud that wouldn't leave his person. He slowly pulled his hat down low enough to hide his eyes from the others. He didn't want to seem weak to the rest of the group.

Ian was talking with Abby, they were both picking up anything that may have been dropped during the reaction of Jackson going under. They picked up back packs, and some items that may have fallen out of back packs that were thrown off the holder's back. Ian couldn't stop thinking about Jory and the Captain. The group he was with now was taking too much time to get there. There were moments where he thought of going back alone himself, but that would be stupid. His coming out here would have meant nothing. Abby was just saying something and then asked, "What do you think?"

Ian, who had not been paying much attention, said, "Um... yeah, I agree..."

Abby replied with a caring look, "...come on... let's go get some water to drink, you seem like you need it."

Jackson was breathing normally now and was starting to move. Melissa stared at him as he attempted to get up. 'He must be in a lot of pain... not just physically, but emotionally, too...' Melissa thought this as Jackson stood up. He rubbed his neck where he had been lying on it and without saying anything picked up his back pack and began to walk towards where they had been trying to get.

Everyone in the group froze as Jackson passed them. 'How can he keep going?' 'Doesn't he know when to quit?' 'Is he crazy, he's going to kill himself...' 'Doesn't he feel any pain at all?' These were some of the thoughts that Ian, Abby, Eric and Melissa had going through their minds. Jackson stopped infront of Abby and Ian, who had been the furtherest out from the rest in the right direction and said, "Let's go guys... Jory and the Captain are waiting. We can't let them down. We've got to keep going. Ian," Ian then looked up to meet eyes with Jackson, "can you show us the rest of the way? We're close right?" Ian nodded his head and said, "Yeah... thanks Jackson."

Jackson gave Ian a tough bad boy smile and started walking off to the end of the swampy area. Abby and Ian picked up their packs and put them on, then passed the other packs to the rest of the group. Eric was last to receive his pack, and last in line. His eyes weren't covered by his hat anymore, but they were red and weary.

A clearing finally appeared and the group was on dry land, no more swampy waters. The group was standing on a cliff, with a narrow pass to the right. That was the only safe way down. So there they went. As they were climbing down the pass Melissa had to help Jackson up several times. He had tripped once and then gotten very weak from the hot sun and the stress his body was going through. Jackson let Mel help him up after tripping, but when he was getting weak he nudged her away softly and kept going.

"...Jackson..." Mel said in a light voice. Jackson stopped but didn't look behind him. "I think... I think you've been pushing yourself too hard. I mean, you're losing it. Not in a crazy mind way, but in a health way. You've been pushing and pushing yourself these past few days without much of a break... I'm just... We, the group, are just worried about you."

Jackson dropped his head to his chest and then turned around and smiled a serious smile. "Mel, I'm fine. I really appreciate that you... the group... care about me and all, but seriously, I'm okay."

Mel stared at Jackson with serious eyes and he smiled a true smile back at her. That smile broke her seriousness and made he laugh.

The group was almost there. Mel was beginning to dig through her things to find any medications that were on her person, in case the Jory and the Captain might need them. Jackson was walking at a faster pace. Ian was literally jogging ahead of the rest to get to his two companions. Ian had just disappeared behind a bush when the group smelled something. It smelled like... smoke. Immediately the group began running to reach the bush where Ian had disappeared. There was tension in the air.

"Ian!" Abby yelled as she was about to pass through the bush. The group came to a halt when they reached the other side. All was silent. There before them was the camp that Ian, Jory and the Captain had created after losing Abby. It was up in flames. The first to snap out of the shock was Ian, he started to run into the fire to look for Jory and the Captain, but Jackson and Eric had grabbed him around the waist and pulled him down to a stop. He tried to get himself free of the two holding him down. There were tears in his eyes, "Let me GO! JORY! Let me go damn it!" While Jackson and Eric held Ian down Abby and Mel began to run from a small stream next to the camp and back with buckets of water.

The fire was rising and the group couldn't see any sign of Jory or the Captain. Abby had just dumped a bucket of water on a patch of fire and took it out. Then, Melissa tried to put out another patch of fire in the center of the camp when a tree branch from over her which had been caught on fire, snapped and fell beside her. Melissa fell.

Abby was the first to notice Melissa was missing and yelled, "Melissa! Where are you? Melissa!"

Jackson heard Abby's screams and ran over to her, "What are you saying? Where's Mel?"

"I don't know, she was right her and then I went to get more water and... I don't know!" Abby ran over next to the fire and put out another patch while looking for her friend.

Jackson looked back at Ian and Eric. Eric said, "I've got this covered chief. Ian'll be fine." Eric looked worried. Jackson looked into the heart of the fire and saw something on the ground. He couldn't tell what it was exactly until he came closer. Through the heat, rising fire and smoke he finally figured out what it was. It was Mel.

Jackson grabbed the bucket of water that Abby had just brought over and threw it straight towards Mel so that there was a clear path to her. I didn't work. The water had only made it half way. Jackson ran to the stream and scooped up another bucket full, then ran back and threw it over the path again. It worked this time. He let the bucket fall to the ground and ran through the fires on the narrow path he had made.

"Jackson!" Abby called. Her eyes were wide and she covered her mouth with her hand. Eric ran over to her and held her. Ian came slowly over to the blazes and stared into the flames looking for the figure that had just jumped in willingly.

It seemed like an hour had passed when Eric had called aloud, "Over here! This way!" Ian and Abby looked around to see who Eric was talking to. In the flames something was moving. It was Jackson and he was carrying Mel. He jumped out of the fire a few feet away from where he had entered. He was coughing into his shoulder as Eric and Ian took Mel from him. Abby told the boys to lay her down farther away from the fire, and then went to get some water with the bucket. Jackson was coughing while trying to say, "Is she--okay--".

Eric looked at Mel, her face was blackened partially from the smoke and her left leg was bleeding. It had been cut by the fallen tree branch and burned from the flames on it. Jackson finally caught his breath and then put his ear to Mel's chest. A heart beat, it was all too familiar. Mel had just checked this morning if Jackson was alive, and now it was his turn. He moved her head slightly so that there was an open pass from her mouth to her lungs and then pressed his lips to hers. He breathed in once... twice... three times. Still nothing. Eric was keeping a steady beat on her chest to keep it going. Mel was out cold. Jackson tried again, breathing once... twice... three.. four times. Still there was nothing. He started to have flash backs about her as if he'd never have them again. Tears welled up in his eyes and his face started to show sadness. Eric looked at Jackson with lost eyes, as if they were a sea of sadness themselves. Jackson couldn't stop, he had to get her to breath.

"We almost lost you this morning..." Eric said while focusing on keeping Mel's heart going, "...but Mel, didn't give up on you... so I know, that you won't give up on her. Come on Jackson." Jackson looked at Eric like he'd never looked at him before. With admiration. Eric had said something without being an ass, that was a change.

Jackson tried again, and Abby appeared with the water and Ian with a cloth. Ian dunked the cloth into the water bucket and began to dab Mel's face. "Come on Mel..." Ian said.

"Come on girl, you can make it... please..." Abby said with tears.

Jackson tried once... twice... three... and... she was breathing. Everyone smiled. "Oh yeah, what did I tell you?" Eric said shaking Jackson's arms. Jackson was smiling and said, "Mel? Can you hear me?"

"... Jackson..." was all that she said and then she dosed off.

Behind the group the fire had simmered out. Abby had moved Mel to a shady area under a tree. Jackson was cleaning her face with the damp cloth. Eric was tending to her wound.

Ian and Abby were looking through the fire's mess. No sign of Jory or the Captain.

"They must have made it out... but where did they go..." Abby thought aloud.

Ian stood beside her, "Well, where ever they are, I hope they're okay..." Abby hugged Ian and the two looked through the mess for anything that was spared by the fire.

"What could have started it?" Jackson said while holding Mel. Eric was wrapping her wound up and replied, "I don't know dude, I mean... it could have been a wild fire thing, maybe, or maybe Jory and the Captain set it on fire themselves. Maybe it was a signal or something."

"Or maybe an accident?" Ian said coming over to the three in the shade. Ian's hands were burned from the fire. He looked at his hands and said, "Thanks guys, this would have happened to my whole body if you two hadn't stopped me. I don't know what I was thinking."

"You were just looking out for Jory and the Captain, you just cared, it's cool man." Eric said and pulled the cloth a little too tight around Mel's leg. She made a sound of pain and Jackson stared at her. Then Eric noticed what he had done and fixed it, "Sorry Mel."

She was still pretty much out of it and so she lay there in Jackson's arms in a sleep like state. Eric looked at the two and smiled. He knew that the two of them really cared about each other, and that this whole adventure brought it out of the shadows. "Just think, if we had never crashed here, you two wouldn't have ever gotten close... well, I mean there's a chance you may have, but slim."

Jackson thought about what Eric had just said and looked at Mel. 'We have gotten closer... I guess...' Jackson smiled and put his back against the tree so that he could relax while holding Mel.

The group looked at the wreckage the fire had created and wondered to themselves, 'What next?'.

* * *

**How was that? Can't you tell I just love Eric. He's a nice dude. Then again, I like them all. More to come soon, promise. Keep those reviews and emails coming. Much appreciated. Later!**  



	7. SOS

**Okay, here's some more for those fans out there. Wasn't the season finale awesome the other day? I thought so. Anyway, here's some more chilling crap and what not, that'll give you those butterflies, hopefully, ha ha. R&R.  
**

* * *

**F29D: Nothing but Hope**

**Dream Away**

**S.O.S.**

"... Oh, I've been living in a strange land... and I'm a million miles from my home... I've got to take my last stand... but I won't stand alone... I won't stand alone..." Ian, Abby, Eric and Melissa listened to Jackson hum and sing the song that he had written a long while ago. Eric and Melissa remember how beautiful the guitar had sounded that starry night around the campfire with the Taylor, Nathan, Lex and Daley. It was the first time he had sung it to anyone. Of course they didn't know about Taylor hearing a bit of it before that night. The song made the group, camping next to the burnt down camp, more comfortable and at ease that night. Jackson had finished the last verse and began to feel a little awkward singing to the silent group without any music. He laughed nervously and then everyone applauded.

"Okay, let's all get a good night's sleep and continue our search tomorrow. Agreed?" Abby asked while getting herself situated in her sleeping bag. The group agreed and the campfire was put out.

"Thanks again Jackson, you saved my life." Mel said still next to Jackson.

"Hey, now we're even. Just returning the favor, but promise me one thing?" Jackson said sleepily.

"Anything." Mel replied.

"Don't EVER, jump into a burning anything EVER again, okay?" Jackson said laughing and dosing off. Mel managed to laugh and say, "Promise."

Half an hour or so later, Jackson was still sitting up against the tree holding Mel. He was beginning to dose off when he heard a soft cry. He opened his eyes weary and looked down at Mel. She was holding her mouth in an attempt to muffle the sound of her crying. Jackson cleared his voice and said, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Mel didn't know that Jackson heard her and said, "I'm sorry I was trying to keep quiet, I didn't want to wake you. It's nothing." Mel tried to turn her head so that Jackson couldn't see her face.

"Hey, look, if it was nothing you wouldn't be crying. I'm not dumb Mel, what's going on?" Jackson said with a laugh and smiled at her in hopes of an answer. Mel sniffed and shook her head, 'No'. Jackson grunted as he sat up, he had been comfortable where he was, but had to move so that he could look at Mel directly. Mel's eyes were red and puffy and streams of tears were running down her face. She bit her lower lip and then looked into Jackson's eyes.

"It's just..." Mel looked down at the ground but Jackson picked her chin up with his hand. Mel looked surprised.

He then held her hands, smiled a charming smile and said, "Come on, you can tell me anything."

"It's just... I'm so scared... I'm not sure of anything anymore... why is all of this happening?" Mel started to cry again and cuddled into Jackson's chest. Jackson looked around him and then held Mel and shushed her quietly. Jackson's eyes were watery only a bit. He sat back where he had been by the tree and held the crying Melissa in his arms.

"Mel..." Jackson said, "You know you can always talk to me about anything, okay?" Melissa nodded into his chest. "I mean, you can't always act strong, not saying that you aren't strong, because you are, really. You're the one who keeps us all together here, just like, I'm sure, Lex is doing for Nathan, Taylor and Daley back at the shore. You're the kind of person that people think will always be okay with anything... but you don't have to be." Mel looked up at him with a confused face. "What I'm trying to say is, if you want to rant, if you want to scream or punch something or whatever, do it. And you can always come and rant or scream at me any time... heck, you can punch me for all I care." Mel and Jackson were laughing now. Eric stirred and made a sleepy groan noise. Jackson pressed a finger to Mel's lip to get her to hush up from giggling.

Mel smiled and said, "Thanks Jackson... I really appreciate it. It is hard... but I don't want to bother anyone-"

"You're not bothering anyone. Everyone's going through the same thing, okay? We're all stressed, upset and have horrible sunburns, ha ha, but we're here for each other. Don't be afraid to tell someone your opinion. Alright?" Jackson said. Melissa nodded her head and wiped away some tears. Jackson pulled some loose strands of hairs back behind Mel's ears and patted her on the shoulder with one hand and rubbed her cheek with his other. She smiled and he smiled back.

"Let's get some sleep, okay?" Jackson said lying down next to the tree.

"Jackson?" Mel asked still sitting up.

"Hmm-" Jackson was saying before Mel laid ontop of him and put her lips on his. She quickly sat up and laughed lightly a nervous laugh. Jackson sat up and met his lips with hers once again. The two kissed for what seemed like an eternity before they decided that sleep was needed. Jackson slept beside the tree and Melissa in his arms. A few feet away Eric was sitting taking a drink of water and smiling to himself.

Morning birds sang as if it were any other ordinary day, they must have completely forgotten about what had happened yesterday at that very spot. Ashes lay everywhere at the campsite of Ian, Jory and Captain Russell. 'Where could they be?' thought a lost and confused Ian as he walked around the campsite early in the morning. Abby came up to Ian with a water bottle and asked, "Are you thirsty?" Ian smiled and took the water bottle offered to him by Abby. He took two large gulps and then wiped his mouth on his arm.

"I want to know what happened here. I'm so confused." Ian said aloud and sat on the cold earth.

"Maybe it was an accident... and maybe they left this area because they thought it would catch the trees and keep going?" Abby told Ian.

Ian shook his head and said, "No, even if they did leave, they would have been back by now to see what might have made it from the fire... don't you think?" Abby nodded.

Ian was staring off into space when Eric came up behind him with a water bottle. "So are we going to sit here and wait to see if they come back? Or are we going to go off and try to find them or some other sign of life?"

Ian turned to Eric and asked, "Why are you asking me? I don't know what to do anymore."

"Think of it this way, if they did get up and leave, then they must be okay. They mustn't be that sick, you know? They could be fine." Jackson said packing his things into his back pack.

"Yes, could be... and then again could be even worse..." Ian stood up after saying this and yawned.

"Well, we're of no use here. Who thinks we should move out and look for Jory and Russell, while looking for some other life out there?" Abby asked the group. Everyone looked around at everyone else for a few seconds and then one by one they all had agreed that they should be moving out.

Abby and Ian were packing back packs, Eric was making sure everyone's water bottles were filled, Jackson was picking some fruit, and Melissa was washing up at the small stream next to camp. Melissa was still a bit dizzy from in-hauling all of that smoke from the fire and she limped her way here and there with her wounded leg. Eric watched Melissa closely to make sure that she didn't fall over or hurt herself any more. Once Melissa did trip and Eric had been right there to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Thanks," Mel said steading herself again. Eric smiled worried.

Melissa walked over to Abby to help with back packs and Eric went over to Jackson. "Hey, Jackson?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Jackson was just counting to make sure they had enough food to go around for now.

"I don't think Melissa can go off with us." Eric said. Jackson looked up at him with a serious face and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, how are we going to get where we're getting with someone who is that injured? I'm not trying to be rude, believe me. I'm just worried about her. What if we go by a cliff or something and she trips? I mean, tell me you haven't thought of this." Eric said seriously to Jackson who was watching Mel who was over with Ian and Abby.

After a small pause, Jackson looked back at Eric and said, "Okay, so I have thought about this. We can't stay here another day, it's bothering the hell out of Ian that we haven't found Jory or that captian yet. I was thinking about carrying her partial way and then switching off with you and Ian, but I don't want her to feel like a... well... load. I don't know man."

"I'm not going to be a load, I can walk guys." Mel had popped out of nowhere and didn't seem very upset about being called a load, but that she wasn't present in this conversation. Jackson looked at her and asked, "Are you sure?"

Mel laughed and said, "I'll be fine guys. Thanks for caring but we've got to get going sooner or later."

Eric sighed a defeated sigh, laughed and walked over to Ian to pick up his back pack. Ian and Abby were ready to head out before the other three.

So off the group went again. Up a few hills in the cool morning and by noon it was as hot as a desert. A few times the group had stopped but they only stopped briefly. Everyone was thinking about the same thing, 'Will we find Jory and the captain?' 'Will we find other people out here?' 'I wonder how the others are doing back on the beach...'

Beautiful water falls and streams made a path way for the group. The followed the streams to the ponds and the water falls sent mists into the air refreshing them as the marched onward. Melissa was tougher than the group had expected. She was hardly limping now and she was the farthest ahead. Abby and the others had to jog to keep up with her. They were hiking onward and still it looked as if there was no sign of life anywhere. A few times the group had stopped because of a rock fall, or a tree falling, but they were fine non the less. The heat kept coming and everyone had to try to wear long sleeves and pants to keep from receiving sunburns.

Melissa was first in line, then Abby, third was Ian, fourth was Eric and lastly was Jackson. Abby decided to lighten up their walk by singing a silly marching song, "Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to work we go... and if I could whistle I'd whistle here, Hi Ho Hi Ho Hi Ho Hi Ho!" Everyone laughed and began to sing the silly song. Jackson was singing in a deep grumpy voice and laughing in between verses, Mel was singing loudly upfront, Ian was singing very quietly because he couldn't believe what they were all doing and Eric was just walking onward.

"Okay everybody careful over here the edge is slippery from the stream." Mel said slowly making her way across the shallow water. The water didn't even pass her shoes height at how shallow it was. Ian almost tripped but Abby caught him and laughed. And then Eric was crossing and Jackson following farther behind because of bugs attacking him.

Eric was halfway across when he collapsed. He fell and hit his head off of one of the slippery rocks. Ian ran over and began to pull Eric up but wasn't able to. Jackson who had just noticed what had happened ran over and helped Ian carry Eric over to dry land.

Eric's back pack was taken off and he lay there. He was breathing, Abby made sure, but he had a temperature and now the right side of his head was bleeding. Abby applied light pressure to the cut and then put some disinfectant on the cut. Melissa gave Eric and Advil to relieve some pain.

"He's dehydrated. That has to be it." Jackson said.

"No, that can't be it. He was just drinking some water back there at the campsite." Ian said and Abby nodded her head.

"Then did he catch something?" Mel thought aloud. Mel then widened her eyes and asked Ian, "What were the symptoms that Jory and Captain Russell had again?"

Ian said, "Umm... they were both in pain and they were throwing up and had fevers... that's all I can remember."

"I just thought, what if he caught whatever they had at the campsite. Is that possible?" Mel asked the group.

"I don't know if that's possible or not, everything that they had at camp was burned in the fire, but who knows. If he starts to have the same symptoms then maybe that's it." Jackson said, "But until then..." Jackson picked Eric up and began to walk the way that they had been going.

"What are you doing?" Abby asked carrying Eric's backpack along with hers.

Jackson kept walking and Mel adjusted a cloth over Eric's head so that he could breath and so that the sun wouldn't burn him, "Well, we have to keep going. And we can't just stay there it's dangerous. If you didn't notice there were animal tracks near that stream. I don't know what kind of animal but it seemed pretty big and I don't want to wait there to find out."

Abby agreed that they should keep moving but told Jackson not to carry Eric the whole time because if the illness was contagious, he'd get sick. Jackson laughed and said, "So we'd get the whole group sick then? Nah, I'm okay with carrying him."

About half an hour after Eric's fall he began waking up, "...wooo...wooo-hooo... what is this some kind of ride? Where are the corn dogs?" Everyone stared at Eric who was lying in the frozen Jackson's arms.

"Okay, now I'm uncomfortable with carrying him around." Jackson said carefully lying Eric on the ground.

Eric was laughing uncontrollable and rolling around on the ground. "Okay, I take back what I said, I think he's dehydrated." Ian said staring at the teen on the ground.

Jackson shook Eric by the arms and said, "Wake up! Come on man."

Abby decided to give it a shot and shook him even more fierce than Jackson had done and yelled, "WAKE UP!"

Eric held his ears and opened his eyes wide. He then said, "OUCH! Jes... what's your problem? What happened?"

"You were acting like a crazy man, that's what happened." Abby said laughing.

"Eric, are you okay?" Mel asked coming closer and feeling his forehead.

"Ouch! I'm fine but my head hurts like crap, what happened?" Eric said rubbing his head and touching the cut softly.

"Maybe you just fainted from the heat?" Ian asked Eric. Eric shrugged and rubbed his head and then stood up. He took his back pack from Abby and thanked her, then said, "So, are we going on or what?"

The group laughed and continued onward. The jungle was thick and so there was a lot of shade for the teens traveling further on. Ian was the first to see something up ahead. The others looked at him in shock when they heard him yell, "JORY!" Abby looked forward and ran after Ian after he had said this.

There, through the trees and brush was Jory waving at them. Ian and Abby were the first to run over and meet her. She was standing on the sandy beach of the shore. Jackson and Melissa looked at each other in dismay and laughed. Eric ran after Ian and Abby and hugged Jory and lifted her into the air. He didn't know her that well, but seeing a new face was a good feeling. When they had all reached Jory and hugged her, and even Ian and Eric kissed her on the cheek by how happy they were to have found her they realized that they had made it to the beach and that there was a boat on the sea ahead of them.

When the group had noticed that there was a ship on the water, they all froze. There was silence, except for the occasionally giggle of Jory from all the excitement. To break the silence Eric yelled, "WOO-HOO! We made it! We're saved!" Everyone on the beach laughed and screamed excitement.

Jory told the group, "After Ian had left, the captain and I decided to take some action and do something. Out of the reaction of the heat and being sick, the captain had actually put the camp on fire! He set the whole thing ablaze. I thought he was losing but I then noticed a plane flying over head. I was so shocked when I saw it flying towards the island and going lower and lower. I ran toward it and met it here with the captain. The captain is on the boat right now, he's been there for a whole day now. He's really sick. I stayed on the boat overnight but told them that you, Ian and the others on the other side of the island, were here. I thought you might come this way so I told them to stay put."

Ian kissed Jory again and lifted her off the ground. "You're okay though? You're not like on the verge of death or anything are you?" Jory nodded a nervous, 'No' and Ian laughed and ran over to Abby. He stared at Abby and then kissed her on the lips. She opened her eyes wide in shock and then when he let her breath she laughed nervously and kissed him back.

Eric stared at the two in shock and then laughed. "Who woulda thunk it?" he said while parading around the beach. He even did a unique victory dance. Ian and Abby laughed and kissed again. Melissa laughed at him while he did this dance and then noticed that Jackson had disappeared. She looked behind her to see him walking back into the jungle. Melissa was confused and ran after Jackson calling him, "Jackson! Jackson! Wait up! Where are you going?"

"I'm getting away from those people, from that boat..." Jackson said still walking. Mel had caught up to him now and stood infront of him. She held her arms out and then asked, "What are you talking about? We're going home."

"No, you're going home, I'd be going to jail. Think Mel, just think. Do I want to go to jail or do I want to stay here where I can do whatever I want." Jackson started to walk against Mel but she wouldn't let him. She was pounding on his chest and punching his side. She was crying.

"No! No, Jackson! I won't let you go! No!" Mel was crying so had she was falling to the ground. Jackson stopped only to because she was falling to the ground and wouldn't let go of him. He rolled his eyes and tried to get free from her grip but she wouldn't let him. "I won't let you go! I want you to come home! We'll find a way to keep you from going to jail, please! Please! You asshole! Stay with me! Stay with me..." Mel sobbed into his chest. Jackson was now crying into Mel's shoulder.

"I can't Mel... please, don't make this harder than it is... please..." he was crying so hard he could hardly talk. This hurt him. He couldn't stand not being with Melissa but he couldn't go back there and be arrested. Either way, he'd never see Mel again.

"Don't I mean anything to you? Am I nothing to you? Do you just want to get away from me!?" Mel screamed at him. Jackson hung his head and tears came from his beautiful blue-gray eyes. He stood up and held Melissa.

"Please... don't think that... I really like you Mel... I... I love you..." he said and held her tightly.

Eric had come out of the shadows and walked over to the two teens holding each other close. "You know... Jory just told us all something interesting on the beach... if you were interested." Jackson turned so that Eric couldn't see the tears and Mel looked at him with puffy eyes. "It's just something small, I mean... she just said that when the people came from the plane and radioed that ship, that the people said on the radio that the parents of each child were happy to hear they were safe, and Cody's mom, said something unusual. Something about Cody being okay, and coming home and not having to go to a foster's anymore. You know, since he wasn't found guilty of that kid getting hurt back home. Just thought you'd want to know." Eric then picked up Jackson's back pack and flung it over his shoulder and gave him a hug. "Welcome back, bud."

Jackson looked at Eric with puffy eyes and Mel was smiling uncontrollable. Jackson stared at Eric and then looked at Mel and smiled. Jackson then kissed Melissa and lifted her into the air. When landing Mel hurt her leg and Jackson said he was sorry. The three teens laughed and made their way back to the shore to get onto a smaller boat to reach the larger one on the sea. When they made it onto the ship they were given some real food and clean water to drink. "Set sail for the other side of the island, we need to pick up our friends... and then... we're going home." Jackson said and kissed Mel's hand softly and smiled. "We're going home."

Everything was going to be fine. Just fine...

* * *

**Ok... I didn't really like that ending. I think I could have done better, but hey who know's maybe I'll do this over again? I hope you're all not mad at me for finishing it off, but hey can't be on the island forever. Right? Thanks you've all been a wonderful audience. Don't worry I am writing more F29D stories! And a story for each couple, although I favor Jackson and Melissa over the rest, ha ha. But yeah, more stories to come and maybe a redo of this chapter or even story. Who knows? Love you all!  
**


End file.
